Year: 2014

This is a follow up to Santa Lands on a Virgin Atlantic Plane with 4D Technology. It turns out that you can measure the magic in the air. Here is the page that’s tracking the festive magic: There’s Magic in the Air Here is a snapshot of the page: How are we measuring the…

I’ve put together a roundup of the best productivity books that have helped me get better results in work and life. It contains many of the same books that I recommend to people and teams that I mentor. Here is the list: Productivity Books It has a lot of books. To be productive, it takes…

Microsoft and Virgin help land Santa on top of a plane at 30,000 feet. If you’ve been wondering where Santa’s been, he landed on top of a Virgin Atlantic plane and did a photo shoot with the passengers. Microsoft teamed up with Richard Branson and Virgin Atlantic to bring the magic of Christmas to life. …

I wrote a roundup of the best books I read in 2014. I read a lot of books, and not all of them are worth sharing. I’m a believer that leaders are readers, and as Bill Gates says, “reading is how I learn best.” Here are a few of the books that made my list:…

Sometimes with all the hustle and bustle, it can be tough to find the holiday spirit. It’s easy to say “Bah!—Humbug!”, but that’s a spiral down. The key is to find the people and ideas that lift you up and remind you what you’re capable of. I’ve put together 10 Big Ideas from A Christmas…

Here’s a simple visual that I whiteboard when I lead workshops for business transformation. The Sweet Spot is where customer “demand” meets Microsoft “supply.” I’m not a fan of product pushers or product pushing. I’m a fan of creating “pull.” In order for customers to pull-through any product, platform, or service, you need to know…

I’m always of fan of hearing about how Softies change the world, inside and outside of Microsoft. I was reading Blind Ambition: How to Envision Your Limitless Potential and Achieve the Success You Want by Patricia Walsh. It’s an inspirational story, as well as an insightful read if you are looking for ways to up…

I was reading back through Satya Nadella’s email on Bold Ambition and Our Core, and a few things caught my eye. One of them was the idea that if you want to thrive at Microsoft, you need to drive change. Satya writes: “And if you want to thrive at Microsoft and make a world impact,…

Let’s say you want to take your business to the Cloud – How do you do it? If you’re a small shop or a startup, it might be easy to just swipe your credit card and get going. If, on the other hand, you’re a larger business that wants to start your journey to the…

Cloud, mobile, social, and big data are changing the game of business. But to play the game well, leaders need to grow new skills. In order to create new customer experiences and market-leading operational capabilities, leaders need to invest in digital skills. Our Cloud-First, Mobile-First world provides unprecedented possibilities in terms of connectivity and compute…